Tony Duggan wrote:

>I want to hear more Paul Creston.  Can I? I want to hear more about Paul
>Creston.  Tell me.

Look for the Gerry Schwarz recordings of Creston with Seattle on Delos.
Between the two you get Symphonies 3, 5 plus some smaller works.  There
are two recordings of Symphony 2.  The better one is with Jarvi/Detroit on
Chandos.  The one with (I think) David Amos and a Polish orchestra is not
so good.  There is an old recording of Symphonies 2, 3 with Howard Mitchell
on old Westminster with the National Symphony.  It's in mono.  Not bad
performances, but given the colorful nature of Creston's music, you should
go with the newer ones.  There was a recording of A Rumor with Marriner on
Argo LP, with some other interesting American music.  The Trombone Fantasy
with Christian Lindberg on BIS is a wonderful work.  Don't settle for a
piano version.  Corinthians XIII is a tricky buy.  It's on Louiville and
coupled with the Amos Symphony 2.  Go for the Louiville, with it's Barber,
Toch coupling.  There's a Piano Trio that's pretty good, though I haven't
listened to it in a long time.

What to start with? I'm a symphony guy.  You must have the Schwarz discs,
not only for the symphonies, but for the couplings of smaller works.  Get
the Chandos Symphony 2 (coupling Ives Second.) A Rumor is a nice, if not
major piece--clever, a little tune passed around a chamber orchestra
like--a rumor.  If you can find the Argo LP, it's got some other nice
things too.  Yeah, I know.  I'm a trombonist and yeah I used to love
playing the Fantasy, but that Lindberg recording is worth hearing.

Interestingly, I don't know the Threnody you mentioned.

Enjoy.  Creston's a fascinating composer.  Maybe you'd enjoy David Diamond.
Some might not think so, but for some reason I associate the two, though
Creston is more chromatic, more jazzy at times.  Diamond, for want of a
better term, is more big sound New York (at least that's my term for
it)--bold, dramatic.

Roger Hecht